3 October 2006
Road Safety Officers call for a time change to save lives
LARSOA, the Local Authority Road Safety Officers' Association is calling on the government to stop changing the clocks back an hour at the end of October as lighter evenings would save around 450 deaths and serious injuries on the roads.
The last Sunday in October is traditionally when the clocks are turned back an hour but LARSOA says the most recent government research shows that every autumn the road casualty rate rises especially for the most vulnerable road users such as children, pedestrians and cyclists.
Simon Ettinghausen, chair of LARSOA, explains: "Research shows lighter evenings would result in around 450 fewer deaths and serious injuries including between 104 and 138 fewer deaths.
"There are more collisions in the afternoon rush hour than in the morning peak time. Motorists are more tired after they have been at work so their concentration levels are lower. Children usually go straight to school in the morning but may have a club or after-school activity to go to which increases their exposure to the road environment. Social trips are also generally made in the afternoons and evenings. Extra evening daylight would protect vulnerable road users by making them more visible to motorists."
LARSOA is championing the change to single/double summertime (SDST) which would mean the clocks do not go back an hour in the autumn. Time would remain at GMT plus one hour and in the spring the clocks would go forward one hour taking us to GMT plus two hours.
The Association is seeking a two to three year trial of SDST so all the implications can be assessed properly. A similar experiment was conducted in 1968-71 but the road environment, the amount of cars and people's travel habits have changed enormously since then.
LARSOA spokesman David Frost says: "The government says it is committed to reducing deaths and serious injuries on the roads by 40% by 2010. Introducing double British summertime could go a long way towards reaching this target.
"The government repeatedly fails to accept this, despite the fact it could have an immediate impact on the pain, grief and suffering of a significant number of families and communities throughout the country."
While there has been some opposition to this move, particularly in Scotland, there are several other important benefits:
- major savings in energy and fuel costs
- reduction of UK's energy consumption so helping achieve carbon targets for reducing emissions
- increased opportunities for outdoor activities promoting fitness and health improvement
- a major advantage to vulnerable groups who are apprehensive about going out after dark
Simon adds: "A reduction in burglaries and assault carried out in the evenings could be expected. The sports and leisure industries favour lighter evenings. More people would have the opportunity to participate, and moving an hour of daylight from morning to afternoon would benefit the tourism industry with an extension of the tourist season and a boost in tourist-related earning."
Ends.
For media enquiries please call Alison Ferst on 01287 610404 or 07779 435794.
ABOUT LARSOA
- LARSOA is a national road safety organisation representing road safety officers (RSOs) employed in local government across the UK.
- LARSOA represents 185 of the 200 eligible local authorities across the UK, assisting RSOs to fulfil their statutory role to reduce the number and severity of road casualties through education, training and publicity programmes.
- LARSOA publishes an up-to-date round-up of road safety news from across the UK on its website www.larsoa.org.uk .
- LARSOA also aims to influence national debate - government policy and action together with public opinion. The association works to achieve national recognition for road safety issues, commissions research into behaviour which contributes to road collisions and develops national road safety campaigns.
- The association assists in identifying achievable national targets to reduce the number of collisions on the country's roads.
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